English 4800, Selected Topics: Shakespeare and Love

Dr. Greg McNamara

TR 1:30-2:45

CRN 23905

From the 1590s to the second decade of the seventeenth century, William Shakespeare had few serious rivals among London’s theater writers.  Even the fiercest and most prideful of these rivals praised Shakespeare as the “Soule of the Age! the applause! delight! the wonder of our Stage!” concluding, “He was not of an age, but for all time!”

Shakespeare’s powerful and realistic representation of human relations—specifically love—is one of the main reasons for his plays’ enduring fame and popularity on the page, on the stage, and in the cinema.  This special topics course will explore the function of love in its many forms, ranging from courtly and romantic love to platonic and familial love, in several of Shakespeare’s major works, including Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest.  Three credit hours.

Syllabus in .pdf format